Woman arrested over racially abusing pub security
It is alleged the woman, from Worcester, used racist language towards the member of security staff outside the Figure of Eight in Broad Street between 10pm and 11.30pm last Saturday (22 May).
She has also been accused of racially abusing another man who was stood near the pub entrance and earlier damaging furniture inside the pub.
The woman was detained at 1pm yesterday (Monday 24 May) after she attended a police station at the police’s request and she remained in custody for questioning.
Shocking behaviour
A video of the incident had been shared on social media and viewed more than 2m times, showing a woman swearing at the member of security.
JD Wetherspoon (JDW), which runs the pub, has banned the woman from its venue and she is also facing a lifetime ban from all venues in the city centre.
Westside Business Improvement District (BID) general manager Mike Olley said: “This shocking behaviour has been reported to the police and will land this young lady in a lot of hot water with the authorities.
“As well as JDW’s ban, we will also be seeking for her to be banned for life from all city centre venues.
“We will be reporting the incident to all other city centre BIDs and to the city’s PubWatch group as we simply don’t want and will not tolerate someone who exhibits this abhorrent sort of behaviour."
Racist behaviour completely unacceptable
Olley added: “While incidents like this are rare, what I would like to highlight is the exceptional calm shown by the doorman concerned, who, despite behind racially abused and spat at, kept his head and did not react.”
Birmingham Police chief inspector James Spencer stated the incident was awful and people were "understandably disgusted".
He said: “We said we would prioritise the investigation and that’s now led to the swift arrest of a suspect. Our city centre police teams have been working hard with local businesses to make the city a safe and enjoyable place to visit.
“Racist behaviour is completely unacceptable and we are taking this report very seriously. We are still in the process of trying to contact the victim and we would urge him to get in touch as soon as possible so we can take a statement.”
